Lost Planet 3

Capcom does not sail exactly in good water with the first two episodes of Lost Planet. Although conceived by the same development team and united by wholly similar mechanics, the two products differed conceptually in a rather marked manner. The former is very traditional, with a single player phase and a well separated multiplayer and, on the contrary, the latter is very experimental, where the boundaries between the two modes were very weak, with the risk of not understanding where the first began and the second ended. Lost Planet 2, among other things, also moved away from the first episode for the setting itself, which passed from huge frozen expanses to lush tropical forests, while remaining on the same EDN III home planet.

A beard. In all senses

Capcom's third attempt takes us back to the origins of the saga, placing the hands of the narrative thirty years behind the first episode, analyzing the exploits of the first NEVEC technicians, intent on terraforming the planet for the extraction of the immense natural resources to arrangement. And it is precisely among these first (..) settlers that we will find Jim Peyton, whose clothes we will wear as a protagonist. The Lost Planet 3 traman takes our Jim to the command of his Rig. On EDN III, evidently forced by work circumstances. In fact, there will be several intermezzo videos where our protagonist entertains poignant conversations with his wife left elsewhere because of force majeure.

The NEVEC base located on the planet will play from the HUB for the missions, giving us the possibility to receive missions from the different characters present, to upgrade weapons and to buy new improvements for our Rig that, trustworthy traveling companion, will accompany us throughout our journey and that it will also prove very useful in battle on more than one occasion. Obviously the Akrids, indigenous inhabitants, who try to protect their planet of origin from the human invasion and who represent the primary obstacle on the road to EDN III resources could not miss. The merit of Lost Planet 3, however, is also that, contrary to the first two, of having enriched the plot with numerous twists that will be "sipped" during the adventure. A narrative device that works,

From the gameplay point of view, Lost Planet 3 abandons the frantic pace of the first two chapters to allow itself a more rhythmic trend. Which, in itself, may not be bad but it has the aggravating circumstance of presenting a low number of adversaries (moreover rather deficient in terms of artificial intelligence), which often leads the player to get rid of the enemy fairly quickly, finding himself then grappling with missions that lead him to visit totally abandoned bases, little beaten ravines or immense frozen expanses struck by growing storms, always looking for sources of heat with which to supply their own Rig and then use them as paper money for upgrades. If to this also joined the cadenced step of our "robot" that helps us to cover the distances on the outside,

The basic idea, that of proposing itself as an "icy" version of Borderlands, could also work on paper, but Spark Unlimited would have had to increase the pace of the game, load the bar of the "charisma" of the game or try to bring on the flat of the player something else to do to put a little spice on a gameplay that on several occasions has proved a little too obvious and repetitive. Gameplay that among other things relies excessively on quicktime events, which in this case manage to take away even more rhythm from those who would desperately need it. A pity, because Lost Planet 3 has all the right elements in it to be a game of appeal but that Spark Unlimited has not been able to wisely balance.

Overall - 5.8

The number next to a video game title can mean so many things. It can mean "continuity", a filing of the fundamental system of a series, which aims to perfect its best elements. It can indicate a desire for revolution, a clear cut to the mechanics of the past to propose something new and original. What it should never mean is a step backwards, a structural devolution that leads the saga to deteriorate. Lost Planet 3, on the other hand, does just that, it blows away what was good about its predecessors, to become a mediocre, banal and repetitive shooter.